2012 Stealth Cam Delta 8 no glow 8 MP 36/48 count (no glow) digital camera report

Hitting the dollar scales at the 180 dollar range we felt that maybe this little camera might be somewhat over priced. The basis for that statement was that last years red flash copy of this same camera had a top price that was forty dollars cheaper. The conversion to the black emitters to allow it to be sold under the no glow category would justify that cost provided it holds up to the advertisement and whether or not it can match or exceed the competition. The 2012 Jim Shockley Shadow camera from this same company did not pass the “no glow” tests and actually came in to the low glow category. If the no glow holds up and we see decent trigger times then the consumer can determine value based on function over advertisement. 

Those who followed the tests on the red flash version last year will remember that we had a pleasant surprise with the good picture quality but it had a somewhat slow trigger time that tested at just under two seconds. Let’s hope we see that same picture quality and better trigger times on this model. 

The OD green sculptured military style camo pattern case has the same everything as last years camera except the change to a different style emitter arrangement. This is a wrap around type with individual emitters on above and below the main lens. Wide angle PIR lens is below the array and a small window to see the inside LCD just below that. Inside the door is the USB/TV out ports on the side with the SD card slot (up to 32 gig). The case is solid and has plain strap loops on the back. Seals seem to be complete and weather proof. External battery port is located on the bottom of the camera. Size is 6X4X3 inches with two shiny latch loops to hold the front and back portions together. This is their typical cam/battery compartment in the door arrangement. The camo pattern works well and the dark LED’s help a lot in the ability to hide it on the tree. Inside there is a series of switches to do all the programming. The only thing that needs to be input is the time/date data which is controlled by three buttons. The base has a tri pod insert for those who use that type of mount. 

A quick run through the camera sites did show that even the above mentioned Shadow camera has now lowered its price to less than 170 dollars. My first trip to the lab and the dark room to get a few quick pictures and analyze the flash gave me some unexpected information. I had expected that this camera would follow the Shadow in the Low glow category but strangely enough it passed and will have to be classified as black flash. I can see the array go off at two feet but it is so weak that the first few times I missed the event. The other thing that was unexpected was that the picture quality did not reach up to the red flash Delta 8 quality. My first few attempts seemed to indicate a degree of fuzziness. Today is a grey day so I will have to wait for some sun to run further tests. Trigger time is going to be somewhat slow and probably be right at the 2 second time or better. The sound on video is excellent. The color reproduction is very good. 

Our next phase took us to the hill and the flash range where we ran into a bit of trouble. The switch between the two flash range settings caused the camera to lock up even though that process was done during the time the camera was in the off position. In order to reset the camera we had to pull the batteries and then everything worked as normal. The process of pulling the cells caused the loss of the date time data and had to be entered back into the program. Sensing at 60 degrees was a solid 40 feet. View the sample pictures for the flash and day range/8 plate quality.  Trigger times came in better than I first thought with a range of about 1.40 for with and without flash. Things are looking better for this camera.

Specifications:

• Resolution settings 8, 1.3, .3

• Delay settings 20s, 1m, 5m, 10m

• Burst settings 1, 3, 6

• Video    yes

• Sound with video   yes

• Video length 15s, 30s

• Video resolution 640X480

• Security none

3-11-2012 update:  Not a good first update, This was probably because when we had the overnight lock up when we changed from 46 to 36 IR on the flash it about killed the batteries. We are in the process of evaluating the cells to see just how low they are, because the flash pictures were almost black and showed very little illumination.  When we pulled the batteries we found that they were 1.1v as opposed to 1.7 when new.  We managed t o get 30 photos on the old batteries.  With a brand new set of Rayovacs, the cameras is back on the hill over corn.

3-14-2012 update:  With the second set of cells powering this cam we have had no additional issues. In fact this camera has greatly exceeded our expectations. This morning’s review of things found that the price of this camera has also been dropped to the $160 range. With the handle of true black flash and a second and a half trigger time with excellent video and sound this camera should also be considered in what ever line up most would have when considering one of the new black flash cameras. We will do a little video testing and if time allows we will test the lower resolutions. Then it is out to pasture for the remainder of this set of batteries life time.

3-26-2012 update:  Had the  camera out for a few days catching some low resolution pictures and switched back to video to capture night video and this camera locked up again and ate another set of batteries. The winner here is Ray O Vac because they got to sell a bunch more batteries. The loser is Stealth because it seems that we are going to have to classify this camera as being not reliable. This review is over.